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I'm a designer in Vancouver, Canada. I work at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, am a director of the 221A Artist Run Centre, and a member of Fieldwork design collective. I'm an Emily Carr and University of Victoria graduate and have worked in the Philippines, Indonesia and the Netherlands. I'm a cycling advocate and race on the Garneau Evolution team.

netherlands Travel, November 9, 2003 2:57 PM 0 comments

Raw Meat

In Holland, raw pork products are popular. You buy regular-looking bacon, but keep it in its super-market state from checkout to sandwich to stomach. Tastes surpisingly good and a little like cheese.

Speaking of which, Holland is where Edam and Gouda comes from, by the towns of the same name. I also had some blood wurst (very warm, spicy, strong, and lingering...I was burping bloodwurst for 8 hours after). The language here sounds like a bouncy German. That's when you don't hear English, of course, which is spoken more fluently by every local better than our locals.

People actually have names like Ren Hoek. And the Red Light district in Amstydamy is less risque than I expected. But the pot smoking in legal "coffee shops" is not. Magic mushrooms are sold like fast food at "smart shops".

Wine is cheap, and if you can't tell, I've had my fair share tonight. Finding a hostel bed to sleep in is the hardest part, as this town is booked up for backpackers from Canada and weekend partiers from England and Germany. And compared to where I've been, hostels here are luxury five star resorts. Haven't met anyone who knows this.

Rented a bike yesterday and rode too far in too much wind. But the Netherlands is truly a man-made land, constantly at war with water.